updated 05:55 pm EDT, Fri July 8, 2011

4th deal this year for Dish founder Charlie Ergen

A US Bankruptcy Court in NY has approved Dish Network's proposed purchase of TerreStar. The deal has been valued at $1.38 billion. The main asset that Dish will be getting is the bankrupt satellite communications provider's 20MHz of wireless spectrum.

TerreStar had filed for Chapter 11 back in October. Since then, it has been exploring options including a noteholder buyout, and interest from MetroPCS. Dish made a formal bid in mid-June. MetroPCS dropped out of contention in late June, without ever making an actual bid, leaving Dish as the sole player, pending court approval.

TerreStar is the fourth recent acquisition by Dish or its founder, Charlie Ergen. Last week, a different judge approved Dish's purchase of satellite services provider DBSD for $1.4 billion. In April the company bought Blockbuster, which also was auctioned off in bankruptcy, for $320 million. In February, EchoStar, Dish's parent company, bought satellite and broadband communications provider Hughes Communications for $2 billion. [viaReuters]